Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal!
by Rosie2009
Summary: Evie drags Mal, Jay, and Carlos to go and get their picture taken with Santa Claus at the mall. However, with distractions around every corner, will they ever make it? Family and friendship feels among the Core Four and just the barest hints of Bal.


"C'mon, you guys, we're going to be behind in the line to get pictures with Santa!" Evie almost shouted, her eyes practically sparkling as she pulled Mal along by the wrist and looked back at Carlos and Jay.

The two boys shared a glance but moved a little faster at Evie's insistent gaze. Mal smiled and rolled her eyes at Evie's enthusiasm, but went with it, knowing what a big deal it was to Evie to get those pictures taken.

Since they had fully integrated into Auradonian society, Evie had wholeheartedly committed herself to Christmas customs and mostly spent all year hyping herself and doing her best to hype everyone else around her for the holiday. She loved all of the beautiful lights, the giant bows, and the mysterious presents. More than that, however, she loved giving presents and enjoying quality time with her three most favorite people in the world.

So, the four of them went to the mall to get pictures taken with Santa Claus. Evie had been talking about it for an entire week beforehand, and she had even prepared the four of them gorgeous outfits for the occasion.

The girls were matching in style and the boys matched in their styles. Carlos was wearing a smart suit with a red button-down shirt, a white suit jacket, and black pants along with glittering gold accents. Jay was sporting a handsome gold suit jacket, a white button-down shirt, and black pants with sparkling silvery accents. Mal was showing off with a deep purple, velvety sweater dress that reached her knees along with shining green accents on her black tights and the dress, and she had a gorgeous draping poncho across the top part of her dress. And finally, Evie was sporting an exact copy of Mal's but in deep purple with gleaming red accents.

Evie had undeniably put a ton of work in their outfits just so they could get those sacred photos. Mal really appreciated Evie's hard work, and she felt that the least they all could do was humor the bluenette.

"Do you have any idea how many children get in this line?! We're already late as it is!" Evie emphatically explained, and Jay rolled his eyes behind her back.

"Speaking of, don't you think we're a little too old for-"

Evie immediately looked to Jay with such a childlike look of wonder that he couldn't bring himself to finish his original train of thought for his previous sentence. Her entire face was absolutely glowing with that sweet, loving, innocent expression, and he suddenly felt terrible for even starting to propose such a thing.

"Sucking candy canes?" Jay finished finally, grabbing the end of Carlos' candy cane and pulling it out of his mouth. Carlos furrowed his brow, gaping at Jay offendedly.

"I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much!" Carlos cried, snagging his candy cane from Jay and popping it back into his mouth. Jay raised an eyebrow at him, and Evie looked at Mal, withdrawing a candy cane from the pocket of her elegant blue coat.

"Give this to Jay," Evie told Mal, and the faerie reached back so that Jay could take it from her. Jay hesitantly accepted it and put it in his mouth carefully. He tasted it for a moment, and he nodded his head appreciatively, savoring it.

"See? There you go," Evie encouragingly reassured him, almost as if she were talking to a small child. He shook his head but didn't say anything in favor of enjoying the candy cane.

"E, slow down, I don't really think we should get in such a hurry. There can't be that many kids," Mal expressed, chuckling offhandedly. Evie sighed, and Mal knew that she was about to launch into some explanation as to why they should definitely be moving faster than they currently were.

"You guys, we need to be seriously dedicated because this line is going to get as long as- hold the phone! Do you smell that?!" Evie cried, pausing as she breathed in deeply. Everyone stopped abruptly behind her, bumping into each other as they tried to compensate for Evie's sudden stop.

Carlos sniffed halfheartedly, but at the purely delightful scent that hit his nostrils, his face lit up like a Christmas tree as he searched for the source. He looked to the left, and he nearly drooled at the sight of the cookies there on display in the shop window.

"Evie, look," Carlos told her, and Evie followed his gaze to the shop window. Evie immediately fell into just as big of a chocolate-induced stupor as the de Vil boy, and she followed him so that their noses were practically pressed against the glass as they hungrily gaped at the Christmas cookies.

"Snowflake, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Evie questioned, and Carlos absently nodded, his candy cane drooping in his mouth as he gaped at the snacks.

"Let's do it," he murmured in response, and they both charged into the bakery. Mal and Jay shared a glance, raising an eyebrow at each other but following the other two inside.

As soon as they got in, Evie was already picking out every kind of cookie that she could ever dream of wanting. Carlos kept butting in and adding different kinds to the mix, and Evie was enthusiastically nodding her head, adding it to the order.

Mal approached the other girl and stood to the side of her in an attempt to catch Evie's gaze.

"Weren't you just saying that we had to move?" Mal asked, trying to pull Evie back from sweets land as the containers started to pile up to five.

"It can wait," Evie immediately replied as she watched the woman place the sixth batch of cookies in a portable plastic container.

"Are you sure? Because you seemed pretty insistent that we-"

"Nothing comes before chocolate," Evie assured her, extending her arms as she eagerly took and paid for the cookies gladly.

"E, what are we going to do with all of these?"

"That's the easy part!" Evie grinned widely, poking Mal's nose playfully.

"What I meant was how are we going to carry them?" Mal clarified herself, and Evie's toothy smile was the only reply she received.

"That can be solved with the same method as what we're going to do with them!" Evie singsonged, and handed one package to each member of the group.

"Are you suggesting we eat all of these?" Mal questioned, and Evie laughed heartily.

"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm saying you definitely should eat all of these," Evie assured her, starting into her own container of cookies eagerly.

Jay looked at Carlos, who was already cramming two at a time in his mouth, and he shrugged, opening the container easily and beginning to eat his first cookie. Mal huffed and took one of her own, realizing that she was now completely outnumbered by the crazy cookie consumers.

Amazingly, before long, they had each cleared out at least half of their cookies, and Evie condensed the masses of cookies so that they only had three packages left. She then threw the plastic in a nearby recycling bin before taking Mal's hand and continuing on their expedition to go see Santa Claus.

"Okay. Seriously now. We very shamelessly enjoyed our cookies, and now we've got to double time it to Santa," Evie instructed them all, and she glanced back at Mal.

"M, wait a minute," Evie instructed patiently, withdrawing a handkerchief from her pocket as she wiped carefully at Mal's cheek where cookie crumbs had made their home. Mal huffed but allowed Evie to wipe them away.

"There. Beautiful," Evie complimented before continuing in her dragging of Mal. The two boys followed them, and they continued on their way to their ultimate goal.

However, after a few more minutes, Jay happened to look to the right, and he stopped immediately, throwing an arm out as he kept Carlos from moving any further. Carlos furrowed his brow, but he allowed Jay to keep him paused.

"Wait a minute, you guys! Look at that!" Jay cried, pointing at the shop window as he hurried over quickly to look at the display.

"It's a one of a kind, signed Tourney stick by the greatest player of all time Chuck Carrolli!" Jay announced, his eyes wide as he gaped at it.

Evie immediately looked at Mal, a conspiratorial look on her face and Mal knew exactly what the older girl was thinking: Christmas present possibility.

So naturally, when Jay proposed that they go in, Evie completely put aside any of her consideration for the timeliness of their arrival for Santa photos, and eagerly followed him inside the shop. Mal opened her mouth to bring to Evie's attention that they were cutting it close with the Santa time, but she ultimately decided against it as she noticed how intent Evie looked at finding Jay a perfect Christmas present while the opportunity had arisen.

"C'mon, dude, it can't be one of a kind because Chuck Carrolli surely signed more than just one Tourney stick," Carlos pointed out, but Jay didn't listen to him at all, suddenly finding himself even more fascinated by the helmet not too far off.

"Look, Frosted Flake! It's a signed helmet by the greatest player of all time Isaiah Inglewood!"

"I thought Chuck Carrolli was the greatest player of all time," Carlos confusedly noted, and Jay eyed him as if he had lost his mind.

"Of course he is."

"But you just said-"

While the boys bickered back and forth about the greatest player in Tourney and how logically only one could be the greatest, Evie subtly eyed the price tag on the Tourney stick. Evie raised an eyebrow as she looked back at Mal, gesturing at the whopping two thousand dollars written on the small piece of paper.

Mal followed her motioning, and her eyes went wide, disbelieving that something as ridiculous as a Tourney stick could be that expensive.

"Good grief, E!" Mal whisper-yelled, and Evie cast her a warning glance, signaling the other girl to keep her voice down. They looked at the boys and Jay seemed to be none the wiser as he argued vehemently with the shorter boy.

"You might be Miss Moneybags now because of _Evie's Four Hearts_, but this is ridiculous. It's just a wooden stick with scribbles on it by some dude called Chuck Coriolis that none of us even know personally! This is highway robbery!" Mal proclaimed emphatically, whispering to her taller best friend. Evie sighed, tilting her head as she looked at Mal with a slight smile.

"First, it's Chuck Carolli. And next, to Jay, this isn't just a wooden stick with scribbles. It's a one of a kind Tourney stick signed by a hero of his favorite sport and possible future career. It's a symbol and represents a goal that he aspires to achieve," Evie explained carefully with one of those huge adoring smiles, and Mal's gaze softened as she eyed the bluenette lovingly.

"You're sweet, Evie. Way too sweet for your own good sometimes, but you are sweet," Mal complimented fondly. "Get the Chuck Carolina Tourney stick."

"Chuck Carolli."

"Same thing."

Evie headed to the front desk to arrange for the stick to be put on hold so that she could come back later and take it home with her to be wrapped, and Mal worked to keep the boys in one area of the shop. Of course, it wasn't very hard considering the fact that Jay was still insisting that two players could be the greatest, and Carlos was still insisting that was incorrect technically and grammatically.

Before long, Evie returned in such a hurry, Mal couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into the girl.

"Guys, it is four forty-five, and Santa closes shop at five! Come on!" Evie cried and wasted no time in grabbing Jay and Mal by the wrists, dragging them quickly behind her.

Carlos blinked in mild surprise, interrupted in his thorough explaining, but he quickly refocused and followed them hurriedly.

Evie dragged them a bit further and Mal could see a crowd of people gathered in a main area of the mall. Evie's face lit up happily, knowing that this was it. They would finally be able to get those pictures that Evie had specifically came for. She gazed at Mal in her pure excitement, but her face quickly lost most of its enthusiasm. Evie's jaw slackened as she gaped at the sight of a certain display in the front of a clothing store.

"Wait a minute," Evie mumbled, her brow furrowed as she stared at the styles in the window. She gasped, her eyes widening in recognition as she took a step forward.

Mal followed her gaze and she immediately saw what Evie was looking at. Someone had modelled their clothing- albeit comparatively poorly- after Evie's designs. Oddly enough, they were designs that she hadn't even officially used as of yet.

"Evie-"

"M, I worked hard on those designs and I didn't show them to anyone besides us VKs and a few customers so I could start their grand premiere on the market," Evie informed her, and Mal could see the slight beginnings of tears of hurt in Evie's eyes along with something much more serious, clouded, and boiling.

"I know, I know, but we're here to get pictures. You can make a claim against them later, okay? I'll have Ben make sure that they don't use your designs anymore."

"Mal, I wouldn't have minded if they had asked permission first or made a deal with me directly!"

"Which customers did you show them to?" Mal finally asked, giving in to Evie's determination to start a fight for her designs.

"I showed them to Cheyenne La Bouff, Flynnigan Fitzherbert, and Chad. Ironically, Chad Charming is one of my best customers. It's probably that huge ego of his. He even seemed a little more interested in my designs than usual…" Evie stopped in her monologue, her eyes slowly meeting Mal's as she figured out exactly who had leaked her unreleased designs. Mal sighed and just eyed her sadly.

Evie read the name of the shop and noticed that it was the store that Sarah White happened to be employed at. She immediately knew exactly what had happened.

Since the Queen of Mean drama, Chad had been avoiding Audrey like the plague. However, he didn't avoid one of her old "friends" Sarah White. Sarah had always been unnecessarily cruel to all of the Core Four and especially Evie since she had come to Auradon Prep after the VKs arrived.

So knowing that Chad was spending time with this unsavory character that just happened to work at a clothing shop only solidified the knowledge that he must have told her what Evie was planning for her clothing line and quite possibly stole the designs from her book. After all, Evie hadn't looked at them since she had shown them to Chad.

Evie and Chad had gotten a bit closer in the time that he had spent in her shop. They were definitely not friends, but she did trust him to not betray her since he was such a good customer and he had never given her a reason to not trust him since he had actually apologized for using her so carelessly to complete his homework.

Evie had at first felt hurt that Chad would do this to her after she offered to special release one of her first men's outfits for him, but her injured feelings quickly evolved into something much angrier as her eyes hardened and she set her jaw.

Mal's eyes widened as she realized that Evie had a one-track mind at this point. Mal looked over at the crowd of people that were thinning as the time wore by and Santa's picture time drew nearer to its end, and she knew that they needed to hurry and that they didn't have time to waste.

"E, listen to me. We need to get in the line because we're nearly out of time," Mal informed her, but Evie didn't seem to hear as she charged into the clothing shop.

Mal shared a glance with the two boys before racing in behind the girl. As soon as Mal entered the shop, Evie had started speaking to the person behind the counter.

"Hi, can I speak to your manager?" Evie cheerily requested, that twinkle in her eye as she completely bedazzled the man. He nodded, spluttering and not having anything intelligent to say as he turned to head for the back.

As soon as a woman with a sour face and a name tag reading her status in the place showed up, Evie immediately began to speak.

"What are those?" Evie immediately asked, pointing to the display of clothes at the front of the shop.

The woman just raised an eyebrow, smirking as she eyed Evie.

"Clothes."

"Okay, let me be more specific," Evie grinned falsely before losing all semblances of humor as she placed her hands on the counter firmly, glaring at the manager.

"Where did you get the designs from?"

"I got them from a friend."

"You mean Sarah White?"

"What's it to you?" the woman shortly questioned, largely unconcerned with Evie's inquiries. Evie furrowed her brow, her lips curling into a smile as she tried to keep her patience with the obviously slippery and slimy saleswoman.

"What it is to me is that those are _my_ designs that I put hard work into," Evie informed her. The woman simply scoffed at her, and Mal stepped up beside Evie protectively. However, she knew her influence was limited in this concern because as the King's fiancé, there was only so much that she could do to exert authority. When she was Queen, she would receive ultimate say alongside Ben.

"I didn't see your name on them," she shot back, and Evie looked down at her name tag gathering what she wanted to know.

"Well, Lorrie, let me be the first to tell you that those designs are mine," Evie told her boldly.

"I don't think so. And how dare you come walking into my store like you own the place?"

"How dare you take my designs and act like you own them?" Evie replied quickly, and Mal could see that this was starting to escalate out of hand. She placed a hand on Evie's arm, squeezing tightly as she tried to keep her from acting out too much.

"Ma'am, if you don't leave, I'm going to call security to make you leave," Lorrie finally spoke with a smirk on her face that showed just how convinced she was that she had won.

Evie's eyes lit up in an entirely new level of heat and fury as she started to launch into a tirade. However, before she could even begin, Jay threw her over his shoulder effortlessly and started to walk out, Carlos walking in front of him and Mal behind him.

"Put me down, Jay! I wasn't done! You can't steal designs! You thief!" Evie cried, beating on Jay's back with balled-up fists as she glared at the woman who was sniggering behind the counter.

"Evie, don't worry, we'll get Ben to take care of it," Mal explained gently. Evie just kept her eyes locked onto Lorrie as they reached the exit.

Evie quickly latched onto the doorway, offering one last bit of fight before she let herself get dragged out.

"Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal, and a Happy New Year!" Evie cried just as Mal and Jay pried her fingers from the doorway, and they went out on their way. Evie growled under her breath as she stared at the shop name.

"E, look, there was nothing you could do, okay? She was going to call security and then we couldn't go see Santa Claus to get pictures," Mal told her, hoping to jog her memory and bring back her cheerful spirit of before.

Evie offered the store a lasting distasteful glance before looking anxiously in Santa's direction, her excitement shining through. Mal patted Jay's shoulder, letting him know it was safe to put her down now.

Jay carefully let her down and she laced her fingers with Mal's as she hurried over to the crowd where Santa was.

However, to her immense horror and complete disappointment, there was not a single hint of Santa Claus anywhere in the area, and the colorful backdrop that they used for his pictures was starting to be packed up and taken away.

Evie just gaped broken-heartedly at the entire ordeal and Mal broke away from Evie's now-loosened hold as she hurried over to the men.

"What's going on? Where's Santa?" Mal asked, hoping that they wouldn't say what she knew they were going to say.

"We're sorry, ma'am, it's past five. We've got to close up," he informed her regretfully, removing his hat to wipe the sweat from his brow. Mal nodded carefully and turned back to face Evie.

Evie had lost all semblances of sparkle and happiness. Instead there was just bleakness and droopiness. Mal felt her heart ache for her best friend, and she walked over to her sister, extending her arms for a hug.

Evie, despite how upset and numb she might have been, would never turn down a hug, and she did not disappoint this time as she walked into Mal's embrace carefully and she enveloped Mal in her own arms. Mal rested her head under Evie's chin, knowing she needed all the comfort she could get.

Everything might have started well that day, but it certainly didn't end well.

Jay and Carlos approached them, and they wrapped their arms around Evie and Mal. For a few moments, they just stood there, all giving Evie a well-deserved hug.

"Hey, Evie? I could get you a candy cane. Would that make you feel better?" Jay finally offered, and Evie couldn't help but laugh a little at his try. Mal and Carlos smiled at his efforts and they all pulled away, throwing their arms over each other's shoulders and around waists as they headed out of the mall.

After a little while, they were back in the parking lot heading toward Charlene- Evie's named Jeep Renegade- when they saw something that sent Evie back into her cheerful state. There, looking through the trunk of the car parked beside Charlene, was Santa Claus. Evie's face lit up in the brightest smile that Mal had seen all day and she practically ran over to see him.

"Mister Claus?!" Evie called, and the old man turned to look at her, a happy little smile gracing his features as he adjusted his glasses to see her better.

"Yes, young lady?" Evie took that as her invitation to come closer, and so she did, her blue hair flowing behind her elegantly as she rushed.

"We were just inside, and we hurried as fast as we could, but we still managed to miss you. You see, my friends and I were really looking forward to getting a few pictures with you, and if it's not too much trouble, would you mind letting us take a few before you leave? Only if you have enough time, though," Evie pleaded with him desperately, her hands clasped together in front of her as she offered him her most winning smile.

He looked at her for a moment before shifting his gaze to glance at the other three that were standing awkwardly behind her. Jay offered a nod, Mal gave a small wave, and Carlos grinned a bit.

After a moment, the old man smiled kindly at the bluenette, readjusting his hat.

"I think I have just enough time for a few pictures," he answered her finally with a twinkle in his eye, and Evie looked back at Mal with an exceedingly excited expression. Mal just offered her two thumbs up as the three VKs approached Evie and Santa.

Evie played with her phone for a moment, trying to set it so that it would take a picture after several seconds.

She turned to face the other three and Santa, walking backwards so she could set their positions how she wanted them.

"Okay, M, get over on the left side closest to Santa, and Jay, stand to the side of Mal. Carlos stand where Jay is, but on the opposite side. I'm going to be in Mal's position but on the opposite side," Evie informed them. However, she quickly realized that everyone was in the right positions, but there was something missing.

"And put your arms around each other! Act like you actually like one another!" Evie laughed and the other three couldn't help but join in. Santa heartily chuckled as well as Evie placed her phone carefully in a nearby tree that was lining the edge of the parking lot. She pressed the button for the camera to start counting, and she hurried over to the group, getting in her position.

"Everybody, say cheese!" Evie told them, and they all offered a huge smile for the camera. Before long, there was a flash, and they knew that the picture had been taken. Evie smiled widely, hurrying over to the phone and checking the photo.

It had turned out beautifully, considering the fact that it had been taken in a parking lot.

"It's gorgeous, guys! Thank you so much, Mister Claus!" Evie expressed as she walked back over.

"It's no trouble at all, dear," he smiled, and Evie hugged him quickly before heading over to the other side of the Jeep. The boys got in the back of the vehicle quickly.

However, Mal followed Evie over to the driver's side of the car.

"Hey, E, can I see the picture?" Mal asked, and Evie withdrew her phone effortlessly, offering it to Mal.

Mal looked at the photo before bringing her gaze up to meet Evie's.

"It's perfect, isn't it?" Evie beamed.

"I guess. Look, are you sure you don't want to find another place that you could get a prettier photo with another Santa?" Mal checked with her. Evie just offered her a sweet smile, shaking her head as she wrapped an arm around Mal's waist and resting her head on Mal's.

"No. I'm sure. It's the most gorgeous picture we could have gotten, because of all the memories it'll hold for us," Evie expressed, squeezing Mal tightly.

"Merry Christmas, Evie."

"Merry Christmas, Mal."

**A/N: So that was short, I hope not too crappy, and late. I was going to release this on December 25****th****, but my computer just fell over dead and decided it was going to take a crap. I couldn't get it fixed until just yesterday, so I did make it before New Year's. Whoo! Yay!**

**Do feel free to let me know how I did. I just wanted to give you guys a quick little bit of holiday candy with our favorite VKs. :) **

**Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (even if I am late)!**


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